A little game of catch-up

Well, hello there poor little neglected family blog! I’m so sorry I haven’t been around much. I’ve been pretty busy. I know, I know…I found time to post to the food blog but we have to eat no matter how busy I am and sometimes a recipe is too good not to share! Why don’t I tell you what I’ve been up to and see if you can forgive me?

So far this school year I have subbed 11 times; 9 full days and 2 half days. Here is a breakdown by grade:
Pre-K—2 days
Kindergarten—4 1/2 days
2nd grade—2 days
3rd grade—1/2 day
3rd & 4th together—1 day
I have had a diabetic student who I was supposed to send to the nurse anytime he asked (and then told how he was taking advantage of me being a sub. Well, I ‘m sorry but I am NOT going to tell him to wait!)
I have had several obviously learning-disabled students who were still being evaluated so for now they are mainstreamed. It’s a little scary at first because I want to treat them like everyone else, but sometimes that just doesn’t work.
There was a beautiful little girl with Vitiligo and it nearly broke my heart to think about her getting teased as she grows up and gets older. I wish kids could stay innocent forever and not have to reach the point where some of them get mean.
I was subbing in a class that received a new student and I had to try to sort through her supplies and track down a desk and put it into the already full room.
I’ve had some potty accident experiences in Kindergarten and Pre-K including one little boy who spent so much time in the restroom I thought I was going to have to go in after him.
There was the day in Pre-K where the aide had a sub as well so neither of us knew the routine or the kids. PANIC ATTACK!!
When I sub at the Pre-K and Kindergarten school, Clay gets to walk over in the afternoon from his school next door. He LOVES this! He gets to visit all his Kindergarten teacher girlfriends. On his birthday he even saved some of the blondies I sent in for snack so he could hand them out to his “ladies”
We discovered that Raley’s bus ride was just as long and uncomfortable if he went home the regular way as it is if he rides the teacher bus to the campus I am subbing on. For now he just rides the regular bus home, but we are checking into the possibility of me picking him up in the future. It all depends on which campus I am on.
It’s been fun to be recognized by kids from previous years. I subbed so little last year, but the kiddos remember. Makes you feel like a rock star sometimes!
There have been problem students. The ones whose names you say so many times in a day that you hope you never meet another kid with that name. But at the end of the day I still give them a sticker because I am an old softie at heart.
I have had to deal with caffeine replacement when I ran out of my coffee fix and didn’t have time for anything other than iced tea. Long story short, bad headache anyway!
With me making most of the meals on the weekends so Jayme can have leftovers for “lunch” (which he eats at midnight) I have faced a few days of nothing for me to take for lunch. Peanut butter and Nutella it is then!
I have had to stand up to a couple of argumentative parents who were trying to break the rules. Not only kids try to take advantage of a substitute!
The biggest challenge has been missing my Princess Pattie of the Pants. If she is awake when I leave she cries; although it has gotten a LOT better. It’s really best if she is asleep when the boys and I leave. When she wakes up and realizes I’m not there, she just kind of gets over it and has a great time with Jayme all day. On the flip side, she is very cute when I get home. She runs to me and says, “Mommy, I so happy you here! You come back! Just like you told me!” She’s also very happy when I don’t go. Friday I didn’t work until the afternoon so we had a nice morning together. Then she and Jayme left for her doctor’s appointment, but I couldn’t go. Not sure who was more upset by that one, her or me. It helps not tha her newest trick to get me to do something is to say, "Mommy, please!! I begging you!"
For the most part, it has been wonderful and I am so happy to be able to sub again. I really missed it. It has been great to keep track of the days and how much my check will be and how far that money will go to paying the hospital bills we’ve accrued this year so we can get back to debt-free living.
So, what do you say, family blog? Am I forgiven? In my defense, I did tell you it would be this way for a little while. I am trying to get into a rhythm, and I promise to do better. How's that?